Qualifications for a 118 footer !

A friend of mine is thinking of buying a 118 foot (36m) super yacht and is asking what quals are needed to skipper the yacht.
He's dead serious and has plenty of money !
I have some experience on a raggie (10 years) but none on such a huge beast as this .............. how difficult can it be ;)
details of the yacht are a little secret at the moment as he's not "done the deal" but a pic is attached to drool !
 
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If it's operated as a commercial vessel(i.e. for reward) then the MCA(with input from RYA) have pretty clear guidelines laid out for the crew/master required quals. If it's a private vessel it's a bit of a grey area, but your insurer may not bother paying out in the event of a claim if you've not been following the MCA's lead.
 
The answers you're getting here are UK/red ensign group answers, but actually it's a jamaica flagged boat so their law applies. I don't know their law but it's a respectable registry so likely similar to the red ensign group, which means low-qualified self drive is only allowed up to 24m and guessing the tonnage of that boat (Phantom, a 10yo Gulf Craft) he would need a 200t licence. It isn't usually feasible for a private person to get that because of the sea time apprenticeship required. So he will have to employ a skipper most likely. He can of course drive it himself with the skipper doing other things

He'll need 5 crew anyway, to drive the boat, do the internals and keep the outside clean
 
+1 Penfold
If it's privately registered (red flag) and not engaged in any commercial use, not strictly required. However if it is chartered to the owner for tax purposes and commercially registered a ticket is required, also a seperate qualified engineer would be required.
Commercial Yachtmaster is an MCA 200 ton ticket and attainable by the man in the street. My guess is that this boat is greter than 200 anyway.
It is expected that the MCA manning requirements are followed for a private vessel of this size, particularly by enquiries in the event of an incident! but as stated a grey area.
I have not been involved for a few years but that was the state of play.
 
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Pretty sure she weighs 135 tonnes @ full load.
Current owner does have 5 crew but I'm just looking at options as far as part time crew or rent-a-crew as and when it's chartered.
Anyway, I'm trying my best to convince him not to buy it as it's far too big a thing to jump straight into.
Thanks for the info though guys
 
The engineer said:
Sorry, I thought it was a secret!
Click to expand...
:D :D I'm no longer sure what's out there and what's secret!

Actually it seems to be classified under MCA's LY2 code as well as ABS A1 maltese flag rules*, so when on charter/commercial duties (which we don't know will be the case) it will have to adhere to MCA manning standards as well as others if it wants to retain its LY2 status. That might require manning as set out in your post. In addition, noting one of your posts above, I'd agree (on reflection) that a beast this size is likely >200t, so a 500t licence would be required not a 200t as I wrote in a post above.

*Just on a pedantic point for anyone still following, when a boat is classified to ABS A1 maltese flag that thas nothing to do with the boat's flagging. It does not mean the boat is maltese flagged and on the maltese regstry
 
Blue_Pearl said:
Pretty sure she weighs 135 tonnes @ full load.
Current owner does have 5 crew but I'm just looking at options as far as part time crew or rent-a-crew as and when it's chartered.
Anyway, I'm trying my best to convince him not to buy it as it's far too big a thing to jump straight into.
Thanks for the info though guys
Click to expand...

tonnage has abosolutely nothing to do with weight. It's volume. Even if she was made as a large yoghurt pot with no insides, and weighing 100kg, she would still be about 250tonnes

On a boat like that you have to crew it full time. Anyone thinking of diy-ing it is crazy. Just keeping it clean requires full time crew. I speak from experience of running an 80er but mine is perhaps 1/3 or of the volume or surface area. Just keeping that boat shiny is a very full time job for a few people. Cleaning the windows requires long arms or abseiling, for starters. Cleaning the salt of the hull sides after a trip out is perhaps 1.5hours. Scrubbing the decks to light brown is 2 people for a day. Cleaning the outside cushions is a days work. And so on... Owners of those things are not stupid people but they all have 5 crew - go figure!
 
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+1
Absoloutely NEEDS crew, if only to keep it maintained and clean on the dock. It may even be a requirement for insurance.
It' s hard to conceive of the difference between a boat this size and a 40' yacht. It needs someone who understands the machinery and people who know how to clean or it will go downhill very fast.
 
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